Then There Was Arkansas

WORDS: Marla Cantrell

Twenty-five years is a long time to teach band in one place. But that’s what Steve Baskin did, in Huntsville, Arkansas, where legions of students now recall the classes he taught, his careful instruction, the camaraderie of playing music together. But last year Steve retired, and suddenly he found himself looking for something meaningful that would fill his days.

His wife, Brenda, felt a shift as well. Until then, her life as a writer had a rhythm of its own. Steve would leave each morning and she would write until he returned. Now, there was little structure to their day, and as much as she loved having him home, she wondered if her work might suffer.

And then, on a bright day in July, 2013, the two went for a hike. Steve snapped pictures along the way. Once home, he looked at the photographs. There was his home state in all its glory. He decided to create a Facebook page called ‘Then There Was Arkansas,’ and post his pictures. “All my life I’d heard comments about us being hillbillies, and the Facebook page was kind of an exclamation point on what Arkansas is,” Steve says, and shakes his head. “I’m an outdoor type, so I’ve seen the mountains and the waterfalls, and I’ve been around the state. I’m a bass player, so I’ve been to Helena and Texarkana and all the way to Memphis, and Little Rock, so I’ve seen the area.”

So he began to post, regularly, scenic photos and tidbits describing the locations. Soon Brenda was looking over his writing, editing here and there, adding details, and just like that she was hooked.

At first, only their friends were following the page, but then momentum built. They started adding historical pieces, posts about odd characters, hardy pioneers, and Arkansas trailblazers who’ve garnered attention across the globe.

With the posts came old photos like the one of “Boss” Burnett, a 600 pound man, seven feet tall, who lived in Nevada County in the early part of the last century and likely traveled with the circus. The photo shows him seated, a wide man in a white sailor suit, staring at the camera, a leaded glass window just behind him.

It’s finds like these that delight the couple. Steve talks about his own family history in Huntsville. His mother wrote a book and painted. As he’s talking, he reaches over and touches his wife’s hand. “Now Brenda,” he says, “is quite a writer. It’s one of the things that intrigues me about her.”

This scene, this glimpse into their lives, is one of the great things about these two. Each wants to tell the story of the other, of the great things their partner has done. They seem energized by just being together, and by their love of ‘Then There Was Arkansas.’

“We bore our friends to death,” Brenda says. “It’s all we talk about. We have people from across the world who are reading about how great Arkansas is. Part of what we like to do is talk about the food here, the old restaurants. There’s Jones Bar-B-Q Diner in Marianna, the oldest black-owned barbeque restaurant in the state. We’d love to go talk to him. People are sentimental about their food. You get into how it got built and its history.”

One of the characters they researched is Big Boy from Hardy, a gentleman who came to the same cafe every Saturday for pie. “They knew not to talk to him,” Steve says. “He was savoring that pie, and then he’d take another piece, and before long he’d have the whole pie eaten.”

And then there’s The Minute Man, a burger chain restaurant that once was a giant in towns across the state in the sixties and seventies. Today there is only one, in El Dorado. “Early on, we wrote a piece about The Minute Man, and all of a sudden we had 20,000 people view that,” Steve says. “So we learned that if it interested us it probably would interest other people.

“I came up with one yesterday about the Chuggabug, which was a cartoon based partly on an Arkansas character,” Steve says, and then Brenda takes over, explaining how they find these little-known pieces of history. “We nerd out,” she says. “We’ll start out on one story and then we research it, mining through five or ten sources.”

Steve jumps in. “I was researching a famous headstone carver, a real famous guy, and a lady was mentioned. I saw who the lady was, and found she was one of the few women stone carvers in the world, and she was from Arkansas.”

Brenda smiles. “He laughs at me because I’ll start the day telling him I’m writing about a cornfield and by the end of the day the story’s turned into one about a brain surgeon.”

The two have begun to keep lists of future ideas, in an effort to stay on course. They post about six times each day and mix it up: something old, something from nature, biography, odd facts. Their fan base has grown to more than 11,000, some from as far away as Italy, Holland, England and Iran. Closer to home, they have a lot of teachers, chambers of commerce, and students following them.

What they love is how interactive Facebook is. Oftentimes they’ll post an old photo and their fans will help them flesh out the history behind it. “We did a story on Black Oak Arkansas (a Southern rock group from the seventies) and we had people telling us they grew up with them. We had 40,000 people view that,” Steve says.

“I grew up with the Levon Helm family,” Steve says. (Levon, who died in 2012, was the drummer and vocalist for The Band, with songs such as “Up On Cripple Creek” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.” He was also an actor with roles in The Right Stuff and Coal Miner’s Daughter.) “I played with him once. I understand small town life and what goes on there, but he’s made it so big it’s hard to write about him.”

No doubt, someday the two will tackle Levon. Until then, they’ll focus on folks like Old Mike, a traveling salesman who walked with crutches. He sat down under a tree during a revival in Prescott in 1911, and died there. His body went unclaimed and the local funeral parlor preserved and kept him, sometimes propping him up in a car during parades, showcasing him in the storefront, and later devoting a closet with its own light to him. For years, young men would take their dates to see him, and as the years passed, Old Mike’s wardrobe changed, always clothes from the era when he died.

The great thing about the two is that they share the same affection for Big Boy and Old Mike that they do for the big names from Arkansas, like Johnny Cash or Glen Campbell. All the characters matter. All of them fit into the puzzle that makes Arkansas the land they love.

And so Steve and Brenda continue to write and research, learning something new every day, working long after the sun sets, disregarding the time. And each morning they wake, excited to start another day, ready to see what else they can find out about the great state of Arkansas.

Calendar of Events

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Route 66, Will Rogers Highway, the Main Street of America, and the Mother Road are all names for what has become one of the most famous roads in the world. Greg [...]

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Route 66, Will Rogers Highway, the Main Street of America, and the Mother Road are all names for what has become one of the most famous roads in the world. Greg Disch has been photographing Route 66 for the past 10 years and his photo book Route 66: Ghost Towns and Roadside Relics featuring 250 of his photos has just been released. This library exhibit will consist of images of Route 66 from the book and all 8 states that Route 66 passed through. Although it is no longer possible to drive US 66 uninterrupted all the way from Chicago to Los Angeles, much of the original route and alternate alignments are still drivable with careful planning. Greg will give an informative talk about Route 66 including the creation of the road, the decertification of Route 66, and the resurgence, and the lure of the “Main Street of America” on Wednesday, November 30, at 7 PM at the Main Library. Copies of his book will be available for sale and signing at the event. Artwork is available for viewing all times the library is open when meetings are not being held in the community room.

Greg began his photography career in 1977 with a 35mm SLR camera as an amateur. He has found that teaching photography and sharing his knowledge to be greatly rewarding and now shares his expertise of photography and technology through classes and photo workshops exploring our great country. His work has been published in books, magazines, calendars, websites, and as fine are prints. Greg’s work can be seen on his website (www.gregdisch.com) which features numerous “How To” articles, “Photographic Destinations” and an online gallery of over 10,000 images. He also publishes a free monthly newsletter so that you can keep up to date with his latest photography classes and workshops, as well as tips, articles and other information for photographers or travelers.

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november 1 (tuesday) 1:00 AM - december 31 (saturday) 1:00 AM

1 - 31

rt Exhibition: Photography by Michael Leonard

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The award-winning photography of Michael Leonard will be on display at Dewey’s Café at the Main Library during the months of November and December. Michael has lived in Fort [...]

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The award-winning photography of Michael Leonard will be on display at Dewey’s Café at the Main Library during the months of November and December. Michael has lived in Fort Smith since retiring from the U.S. Navy in 1994. He is well known as an innovative and highly skilled photographer. His photographic interests and styles are multifaceted and he has photographed many different subjects. Well recognized for unique printing and presentation techniques, he has inspired and trained many other photographers to learn his dramatic style of both color and infrared photography. He spends every free minute he can exploring and photographing our country. Artwork is available for viewing all hours that the library is open.

Michael Leonard has won numerous local and regional photography competitions,toured with the Arkansas Arts Council’s “Small Works on Paper” exhibit and shown his work in Missouri, Texas and Arkansas. In 2016 he’s had solo shows with the Center for Art Education in Van Buren, the Batesville Area Arts Council and is preparing for a show with the Texarkana Regional Arts & Humanities Council in November. His work is on permanent display at the Western Legacy Gallery in Van Buren. You can preview his photographs at www.photovariations.com.

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november 1 (tuesday) 1:00 AM - december 31 (saturday) 1:00 AM

6 - 21

Center for Arts and Education Presents: Parade of Colors; Textile, Tactile and Two-Dimensional

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Main Gallery/Studio Gallery
Exhibition Dates: November 6 – December 21
Opening Reception: November 6, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
The Center For Art & Education will host an exciting and eclectic exhibition November [...]

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Event Details

Main Gallery/Studio Gallery
Exhibition Dates: November 6 – December 21
Opening Reception: November 6, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
The Center For Art & Education will host an exciting and eclectic exhibition November 6th through December 21st that will blend the nostalgic warmth of yesteryear with the vibrancy of fine art today. Titled, Parade of Colors; Textile, Tactile and Two-Dimensional, this exhibit brings a mix of mediums to please every palette. Quilts from many homes throughout the community will bring history and art together as these quilts have unique stories to tell and tell so handsomely. Quilts that have been passed down through generations and quilts that are part of today’s contemporary movement of textile art.

This unique show will feature beautiful quilts both old and new, both hand-stitched and machine sewn. These intricate quilts represent an art form all their own and added to that will be pottery, paintings and glass art. It will be a festival of color, texture, and emotion come to life in the main and studio gallery.

Local artists such as Suzanne King, Cindy Sugg, Helen Kliner, Karen Carney and Lisa Jan-Bohne’ Clay will bring paintings that highlight textures or themes of the quilts. It will be a stunning show of craftsmanship, nostalgia, and vibrant color.

CAE Joins the efforts of Living Local in Van Buren Living Local is a joint venture of The Old Town Merchants Association, Van Buren Original and Van Buren Advertising and Promotion Commissions. They have been seeing a huge turnout for their Thursday night events which bring a festival-type atmosphere to the downtown Van Buren area. The Center For Art & Education will feature local artists in an art walk on November 3rd from 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Artists have been invited to set up places to sell their work and bring live demos for the event.

For more information visit www.oldtownvanburen.com or contact the Center For Art & Education.

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november 6 (sunday) 1:00 AM - december 21 (wednesday) 1:00 AM

7 - 12

Writing a Novel: Fundamentals to Achieve Your Dream

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Serious writers who have not yet attained their dream of publishing a novel won’t want to miss this class taught by author and writing teacher Anita Paddock. Paddock, author of Blind [...]

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Serious writers who have not yet attained their dream of publishing a novel won’t want to miss this class taught by author and writing teacher Anita Paddock. Paddock, author of Blind Rage and the forthcoming Closing Time, both true crime novels, will focus on the fundamentals of theme, setting, point of view, character description and development, plot, climax, and resolution as she helps participants channel their creativity toward a finished product. Space is limited and there is a $50 fee for the six-week class. Pre-registration is required and the fee must be paid before the first class.

Since the class meets over the lunch hour, participants are welcome to bring a sack lunch. Participants are also asked to bring a copy of their favorite novel on the first day of class.

For more information or to reserve a spot in the class, call the Miller Branch Library at 479-646-3945.

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Kenneth Lee Davis, an Emmy Award-winning designer and University of Arkansas – Fort Smith student, is showcasing his artwork at an [...]

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Kenneth Lee Davis, an Emmy Award-winning designer and University of Arkansas – Fort Smith student, is showcasing his artwork at an exhibit at UAFS through Jan. 3, with a reception scheduled for 5-6 p.m. Nov. 9.

Paintings by Davis are on display at the Smith-Pendergraft Campus Center, showcasing 17 artworks of urban landscapes, contemporary settings, and other subjects painted during Davis’s studio art classes at UAFS.

A reception sponsored by the Chancellor’s Coalition for the Visual Arts will be held in the Reynolds Room hallway of the Smith-Pendergraft Campus Center on Nov. 9, with light refreshments to be served.

A former television artist and Emmy award-winning designer, Davis is studying studio art at UAFS following a successful career in television that included work in Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Dallas, Hollywood, San Diego and New York. Over the course of his career, he’s earned four Emmy awards, three ADDY awards and two Broadcast Design Association awards.

While working in television, he painted constantly and decided to pursue a career in fine art painting beginning in 2003. He said his work is influenced by Wayne Thiebaud and Rackstraw Downes.

Exhibit hours are 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on Fridays. For more information about the exhibit, contact the UAFS Box Office at 479-788-7300.

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november 9 (wednesday) 5:00 PM - january 3 (tuesday) 1:00 AM

26 - 31

The Perfect Gift: Library Books for Christmas!

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Honor someone special while sharing your love of reading by donating to the Fort Smith Public Library’s The Perfect Gift: Library Books for Christmas fundraiser. From November 26th through December 31st, individuals [...]

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Honor someone special while sharing your love of reading by donating to the Fort Smith Public Library’s The Perfect Gift: Library Books for Christmas fundraiser. From November 26th through December 31st, individuals may visit any Fort Smith Public Library location to choose a book to add to the library’s collection in honor or memory of someone special. Children’s books are a $10 donation; adult books are a $25 donation. Proceeds from the Perfect Gift fundraiser will go to the library’s materials fund to be used for the purchase of new library materials. For more information, call the library at 479-783-0229 or visit the library’s website at www.fortsmithlibrary.org.

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Holiday Market, a Center for Arts and Education tradition, will continue this year with many new artists as well as long-time favorites. The Van Buren High School Art Club will [...]

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Holiday Market, a Center for Arts and Education tradition, will continue this year with many new artists as well as long-time favorites. The Van Buren High School Art Club will bring both student and faculty work and join us this holiday season. We will also feature local artists such as Martha Efurd, Marti Corff, Cathy Mason, Karen Carney, Karen Brannon, Cindy Sugg, Willie Spears, Julie Mayser and many, many more. Meet the artists, enjoy hot chocolate and home-made cookies while you shop for unique and special Christmas gifts for friends and family. Holiday Market is like opening a treasure chest of gifts with something for everyone! Dates and hours will be:
Thursday December 8th and 15th, 12:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Friday, December 9th and 16th, 12:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Saturday, December 10th and 17th, 12:00 – 4:00 p.m.

Time

8 (thursday) 12:00 PM - 10 (saturday) 6:00 PM

13

Mannheim Steamroller Christmas!

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Get your tickets NOW for Mannheim Steamroller Christmas – America’s favorite holiday tradition for the past 30 years! Grammy Award winner Chip Davis has created a show that [...]

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Get your tickets NOW for Mannheim Steamroller Christmas – America’s favorite holiday tradition for the past 30 years! Grammy Award winner Chip Davis has created a show that features the beloved Christmas music of Mannheim Steamroller along with dazzling multimedia effects performed in an intimate setting.

Experience the magic as the spirit of the season comes alive with the signature sound of Mannheim Steamroller! You don’t want to miss this show – choose either the 3pm or the 7:30pn showing on December 13th! http://community.uafs.edu/season/season-shows/season/season-home

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